God Always loves and Waits for Us, even if we go Astray. Pope Francis. April 3, 2017

Pope Francis said that one must give up false idols in order to improve his relationship with God. God always waits for people, even when they make wrong decisions and seek happiness elsewhere. "He has a tender heart, the heart of a father. Jesus wept 'over Jerusalem.' Let us ask ourselves if 'God weeps for me,' if He is disappointed in me, and if I have distanced myself from the Lord. How many idols do I have, which I am unable to remove, which make me a slave? The idolatry that we have within us… and God weeps for me.”

"To forget God who made us, who raised us, and who accompanies us in our lives: this is the disappointment of God. And many times in the Gospel Jesus speaks in parables about that man who builds a vineyard, which then fails, because the workers want to take it for themselves. In the human heart there is always this restlessness! It is not satisfied with God, with faithful love. The human heart always tends towards infidelity. This is a temptation.”

"The disappointment of God is the infidelity of the people… And we are God’s people. We know well how [the dispositions] of our heart, and every day we must take up again the path so as not to slide slowly towards idols, fantasies, worldliness, and infidelity.

"Let us reflect today on this disappointment of God, who created us for love, whilst we go in search of love, of well-being elsewhere and not in His love. We distance ourselves from this God who raised us. This is a thought for Lent. It will do us good. Do this small examination of conscience daily: ‘Lord, you who have so many dreams for me, I know that I have gone away from you, but tell me where and how to return…’ The surprise will be that He ever awaits us, like the father of the prodigal son who saw him from afar, because he was waiting for him.”